WSN Service

AHMEDGARH: More than 50,000 grief Stricken Punjabis, including a few hundred Hindus, defied the police to reach Kalakh village near here to join the last prayers offered in memory of Bhai Jagroop Singh, the slain militant who died last week in a battle with the Indian security forces.

Earlier, a large number of Bhai Jagreep Singh’s admirers travelled by trucks and tractor-tailors to carry his last remains to Kiratpur Saheb to immerse them in the Sutlej.

Among those present on July 4 in Kalakh were a large number of women. A few thousand more men and women who could not join the last prayers were detained by the security forces around the village. According to reports, the police had detained about 1000 persons at the Jandiali Bridge. There were tense moments as these people wanted to join the function to pay tributes to the Sikh hero but the police were determined not to allow them further movement towards Kalakh. Some persons travelled many miles on foot on the unusually hot day. A few hundred persons wanted to reach their destination and had to battle with the police who had put up a cordon around the village. In the process, at one such spot a few Sikhs sustained injuries as a result of the police lathi-charge. Those injured were Shadi Singh Lohgarh, Jagdish Singh, Pritam Singh Narangwal, Balbir Singh, Surjan Singh Sarpanch and Bibi Rajwinder Kaur and Manjit Kaur.

The police cordon was so tight that even a Press party which went to the village to cover the function found it difficult to reach there. The Pressmen proceeded to the village after certain senior police officers agreed to see reason. It was discovered in the village that the security forces had surrounded the place where the last rites ceremony was on. When are preventative of the five-member Panthic committee associated with Dr. Sohan Singh and others started reading a message, the police began to capture the stage in an effort at arresting the militant. But the participants resisted the police and even started a battle with its. S.P. (Operations) Mukhtiar Chand and S.P (Detective) Sukhdev Singh Chhima were in the forefront trying to arrest the militant. The militant immediately got down the stage and mingled with the public. But the policemen were still after him and they got hold of him. The public was so enraged that they beat back the policemen. The cops then thought it wise to let the militant go free. In the tussle the police used lathis and fired upon the public resulting in injuries to several persons.

The question is: why was Bhai Jagroop Singh so popular? He was a dedicated militant. He fought for Khalistan. He never misused the gun he wielded to loot the public. The extortionists were afraid of him. In many cases, according to the local people, Bhai Jagroop Singh intervened to ensure that extortionists returned the looted money to the victims. The victims in many cases used to be members of the Hindu community. In this manner he became popular with the Hindu community. He held women in high esteem and never allowed any fake militant to insult or humiliate women,  Bhai Jagroop Singh also organized a campaign against the sale of liquor in the area. He used trucks to demolish ramshackle buildings where liquor is often sold in the Punjab countryside.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 12, 1991